Ice Cream For Help
by Sherestia
Summary: All Lucy wanted was to be an average, perfectly normal and unnoticeable girl in Fairy Tail High. Graduation was in less than a year, and she could do whatever she willed once she became an actual mage. That was until fate had pulled a perfect twist in her life. AU!
1. Chapter 1: A New Threat

"It seems like everybody is in a relationship or in love. I'm just here like, 'I like that tree. That's a nice tree.'"

-Teenager Post # 7957

"… _Do you still love me?" her gaze was unreadable, her voice calm and monotonous, and the coldness of the snow and wind seemed to penetrate the closed room as he sighed and looked at her with an odd look, perhaps silently begging her not to make him answer. But she held her breath in resolve, hardening her gaze and waited for his answer._

" _Yes, yes I do."_

 _Tears unconsciously fell from her eyes; her face still stoic and figure unmoving. One might think it was because of happiness that she was crying. He loved her, he said. But all her senses were dulled as realization hit her full-force; for when he said he loved her, he looked away._

 **CHAPTER 1: A NEW THREAT**

 _1_ _st_ _day of classes; 11:17 AM_

 _Principal's Office, Fairy Tail High, Fiore_

"Master Drakarov Meyar! I mean, Master Makarov Dreyar! Half of Building A was melted and frozen and the journalist from Sorcerer Weekly took pictures of the fight and Natsu Dragneel accidentally elbowed the journalist in the face and he screamed 'cool!' before fainting!"

Fairy Tail's principal had a half-completed magic circle hovering over a thick bundle of paper and stared at the random student who had burst through his office.

Until said student realized what she just did. She had sparkling, bright, brown eyes which were wide as saucers and her blonde hair, which had the upper half tied up in a side ponytail, was in a state of dishevelment.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, sir! Err, let me try that again." She went outside; and the principal sweat-dropped at her loud supposed whispers of 'calm down'. Then three surprisingly firm, calm knocks were heard.

"Come in." the principal called. The same student stepped in, but the aura and atmosphere was completely different from what it had been ten seconds ago. Her eyes were dull and her hair looked oddly straight and well-kempt.

The principal finished the circle and with a bright, yellow light, all pages had Fairy Tail's signature mark. The old man nodded at the girl to speak while the clock situated at the mahogany double door's top continued its' click-clacking in the background.

"Good morning, master. The school nurse sent me to inform you that Jason, from Sorcerer Weekly, would not stop shouting 'Cool!' in the clinic. He fainted after being elbowed by Natsu Dragneel while fighting with another student. Half of Building A is either burned down, frozen, or chopped up after the fight." The principal had a seriously straight and calm face. Before his eyes went downcast.

"That is one hot and sexy skirt you've got there." The old man lewdly commented as the blonde-haired girl mentally face-palmed.

' _This old geezer…'_ the blonde thought in disdain.

"But what you've just said isn't less confusing than the first sentence you've shouted, Ms…" he waited for the girl's answer.

"Lucy, sir; Lucy Valentine." The girl said in a very formal, monotonous voice and a blank, unreadable face to match.

"So Lucy, you're telling me that Jason, the well-known journalist," she nodded, "fainted after being hit by Natsu Dragneel while fighting with another student?" the girl nodded once more.

"Yes, sir." The clock continued to click-clack in the background. And the principal gave one, great sigh.

"You kids never let me rest."

 _1_ _st_ _day of classes; 7:17 AM_

 _Corridor outside class 3-A, Building A, Fairy Tail High, Fiore_

A certain blonde-haired girl walked towards the corridors of Fairy Tail, the students not at all taking any notice and just unconsciously passing through as if she didn't exist. She was always early on the first day; so that she could observe and take note of her surroundings.

Her new and last classroom was in sight, she observed, trying to keep her face and eyes as blank as ever. She paused beneath the sign that read 3-A in black, bold letters, and her grip on her schoolbag slightly tightened.

This was it, she thought; this was her very last year. And she had successfully and up-to-date remained average and invisible. She still hadn't found her best area in magic where she could specialize, but she could worry about that later. She had done her best to conserve energy, never doing more to get noticed, but enough so that she remained in the middle rank. Average as any other person named Lucy, she thought.

After this, she would no longer have to pretend; she could finally let herself go and explore the real world. Without hiding anything.

She took one step forward, with every intention to peacefully attend her class. Until a blue blast of magic coming from the classroom hit her straight on the forehead. Thus, effectively knocking the girl out cold.

 _1_ _st_ _day of classes; 7:32 AM_

 _Principal's office, Fairy Tail High, Fiore_

"Erza, this is Jason, one of the most famous school critiques and writers of-"

"Cooool! It's Erza! _The_ Erza Scarlet of Fairy Tail!" the cheerfully idiotic reporter snapped pictures of the redhead in all possible angles.

"-Sorcerer Weekly." The principal finished in a dull, almost boring voice.

"A pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Erza Scarlet, the school's former and I pray, still the next student council president." She bowed and the master looked at her; _'She's taking this way too seriously.'_ He thought.

"Wow! It's cool to meet you too! I can't believe this!" The journalist gave a full-fledged grin, "Wow! I'm shaking hands with Erza Scarlet!" he shout out loud once more, shaking the hands of the redhead who just smiled back.

"He is writing an article about one of the most influential magic schools in the country, and would like an overview and tour of the school." The principal continued, as he turned to Erza with a look that said 'not worth taking the _whole_ tour of the school.'

"Of course, Master." She turned to the journalist, chin held high and with a deep, authoritative voice, she said "Shall we get going then, sir?"

"Coool!" the journalist replied, snapping a few hundred more photos.

Erza Scarlet led the journalist through the school, she gave minimum comments, but even so, nothing could appease the reporter's wild, cheery energy.

"Fairy Tail High has never failed to top in every competition concerning sports, academics, and magic." The redhead voiced out proudly, while showing him the wide field of the Earth magic club, "I must say that it's an accomplishment, attending such a prestigious school, not that I would be boasting." She continued, obvious that she was, indeed, boasting.

"Cooool! I bet the members of the Earth magic club could bury someone alive in a second!" Jason pointed out, while Erza sweat-dropped, _'You're missing the whole point,'_ she mused.

"And the principal taught all students and clubs in Fairy Tail to have only one motto." the red-haired girl's bossy personality was showing in full glory by now.

"I know! Number One! Right?" Jason asked, his hand up in the air with the index finger stuck out, making Fairy Tail's insignia.

"Coooool!" Erza nodded her head in reply.

"Yes; 'Number One'. Two simple words, but for us, students at Fairy Tail, it gives us the inspiration to do our best and not to simply disappoint."

' _As expected of Fairy Tail's Titania.'_ The journalist's eyes were sparkling with fan-like adoration, taking note of the quote.

"Indeed, it's powerful what expectations can do." The girl finished with a strict voice.

Every room and corridor in the school was unblemished, waxed, and absolutely zero-trash-zone. And the journalist was more than impressed at how quiet and studious the classes were.

The tour went on and the scarlet-haired girl was relieved as they passed the last corridor in school. She did her best; and yes, she'd shove a pen down the journalist's throat if he wrote anything less deserving for her efforts. Erza Scarlet smiled an unfamiliar smile. The smile of a predator.

They stopped by class 3-A, her classroom, and the well-known star section of Fairy Tail.

They were done, she mused. Finally, Fairy Tail was going to have a report in Sorcerer Weekly with the words 'violence', 'fight', and 'destruction' missing from the scoop. She did it; everything went smoothly, all according to plan. She patted herself on the back for a job well done.

Until the wall to their right 'exploded'.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, ICE PRINCESS?!"

"BRING IT ON, FLAME-BRAIN!"

Erza Scarlet barely had a second to protect the oblivious journalist, who had collapsed to the ground shouting 'earthquake! Earthquake!', from the explosion. But then again, a second was more than enough for Fairy Tail's Titania. She requipped a magical sword and continuously hit the big blocks of cement that came their way, repelling each and every one of the broken wall. A vein popped as she glared at a certain pink-haired boy and an unfamiliar black-haired, half-naked student.

' _I knew I shouldn't have passed through this corridor. But how dare they cause this recklessness.'_ She thought angrily.

"Woooww! It's Natsu Dragneel!" the journalist got up in a second and walked towards the fighting duo. Taking shots of the heated argument.

"No! This isn't right!" Titania voice was drowned out by the two verbally sparring classmates of hers.

"PERVERTED STRIPPER!"

"CHERRY-HAIRED PYRO!"

The two boys then now picked up the pace and began sparring physically. The teacher and random students, on the other hand, watched from the huge gaping hole in the wall while the journalist continued snapping photos.

"Coool! I never thought I'd ever see a live and up-front fight in Fairy Tail!" the journalist moved behind the pink-haired boy to take a close up shot of his rival when Natsu drew his arm back strongly, sharply, and suddenly. He hit the journalist straight in the face and sent him flying downwards, cracking several floors and disrupting almost all classes in the school building.

And everything went downhill from there.


	2. Chapter 2: Found

"People: You're really quiet.

Me: No one plans a murder out loud."

-Teenager post # 9260

 **CHAPTER 2: FOUND**

 _1_ _st_ _day of classes; 11:02 AM_

 _School Clinic, Building C, Fairy Tail High, Fiore_

"Clear the path! Can't you see we have a life or death situation here?!" the flock of students parted like the red sea when they saw and heard a certain Erza Scarlet; who cast a levitation spell on the reporter. Using swords.

All in all, the scene consisted of a serious scarlet-haired lady who had her right arm out, about ten swords in front of her which served as a stretcher for poor Jason while her left hand was enclosed on the motion-sickened Natsu Dragneel's dress shirt collar, forcefully dragging him on the floor. Sprinting right beside said motion-sickened Natsu Dragneel was his 'accomplice' in bringing half of Building A down, though she could not, for the life of her, figure out why his shirt is missing; Erza thought.

The scarlet-haired girl opened the clinic door with a loud kick, all the while shouting "There's an injured mortal here!"

"Oh my, what is it this time? A poked eye? A cracked skull? Internal bleeding?" the nurse had a bright, big smile while she led the students inside, them taking random chairs, and Erza practically shoving the groaning journalist on the clinic bed.

"Hang in there, sir! You can't give up! Not yet!" Erza's voice was full of emotion while her hand gripped the journalist's left hand.

"You know he's still alive, right?" The scarlet-haired girl tried to ignore the speaker behind her in vain.

"Don't give up! You've got a beautiful writing career ahead of you!" she continued while the black-haired transferee rolled his eyes heavenwards at the overreacting redhead.

"You're crushing his hand." Erza Scarlet finally turned towards the speaker; an unfamiliar student with jet-black hair and matching deep, pitch-black eyes. She then released her death grip.

' _I didn't grip that hard, did I?'_

"You're new here, aren't you? You should leave and proceed to your respectful classes; unless you want everyone's bad first impression on you to last. I'll handle the matter from here." Erza Scarlet stated conclusively, but the black-haired boy stood his ground.

"This matter was entirely our fault. So it's our responsibility to handle the matter from here. And who are you, anyway?" he asked, black orbs staring directly at the girl.

A minute of staring later, "Who are you? And why are you half-naked?" she asked.

"Ah! My clothes!" he realized, but then went back to the subject at hand.

' _This girl is seriously hell bent on ignoring me,'_ the new student thought.

After getting no answer, Erza Scarlet repeated her question.

"I said, who are you?" it was a simple question, but the way she uttered the phrase with extreme assertiveness that it was overbearingly pushy annoyed him.

"Gray Fullbuster. Ice-maker mage. And you are?" he asked, eyeing the girl as she crossed her arms defiantly and held her chin up.

"You cannot claim the name of being an ice mage until you have officially graduated from this school." She retorted as the black-haired boy clenched his fist in exasperation.

"I asked you question." He bit back,

"And I chose to ignore said question. I see no reason why I would waste energy introducing myself to a destructive, disastrous, catastrophic, cataclysmi-"

"Okay, I'm violent; I get it already. Geez." By now, the two had commenced a glaring contest, while the nurse tended to the journalist and Natsu still sick on the nearby chair.

Gray Fullbuster had never, in his eighteen years of existence, met a person as stubborn as she was; she was a _girl_ , for crying out loud; girls are supposed to be cute, friendly, and shyly blushing, not… not like _her._

"If you have nothing more to say then I suggest you go back to class." Her voice boomed in authority, never once breaking the glare on the ice mage. Then he snapped his finger as if in realization.

"Oh, I get it. You're on your period, aren't you?"

Crickets were heard. Followed by two, bomb-like magic blasts.

The ice mage begrudgingly left the clinic with two, stinging circular bumps on his head, keeping in mind to _never_ bother girls on their period.

' _What numbskull has infiltrated Fairy Tail?'_ The scarlet-haired girl's fist was clenched in definite irritation at the ice mage's attitude.But the temperature of the room drastically rose; she noticed.

The journalist began stirring in his state of unconsciousness.

"Luka," the nurse gently called out, catching the redhead off-guard.

' _Luka? Is that a spell? Do we have a traitor in Fairy Tail who has chosen to show her true colors now, in front of me?'_ her double katanas were requipped in her hands in a millisecond. _'In that case…'_

But then the curtain to the other half of the clinic opened, revealing a blonde whose forehead was tightly gauzed.

' _She was here the whole time? I have to admit; she's got no presence.'_ Erza Scarlet thought, returning the katanas to her dimension.

"It's Lucy, ma'am." The blonde replied to the nurse indifferently.

"Ahh, yes, Lacy," the blonde-haired girl remained expressionless, "You're probably A-okay now, so would you kindly inform the master about this matter while you head back to cla-" before the nurse could complete her sentence, Jason fully awoke and began with a loud, clear-

"COOOOOOOL! I've been personally hit by _the_ Natsu Dragneel!" the blonde-haired girl blinked repeatedly, her gaze drawn to the nurse and Erza with question.

"Half of Building A was melted and frozen and the journalist from Sorcerer Weekly took pictures of the fight and Natsu Dragneel accidentally elbowed the journalist in the face and he screamed 'cool!' before fainting." Erza informed the girl with a serious expression, while the journalist continued his shouts of 'cool!', and not bothering to get up from the bed.

Lucy sweat-dropped.

"Lucky," the blonde-haired girl's eyebrow twitched. "Tell the master that Jason, from Sorcerer Weekly, won't stop shouting 'cool', 'kay? Oh, and that half of Building A is destroyed." The nurse's voice was a high, cheery falsetto and the girl nodded, stepping outside.

 _1_ _st_ _day of classes; 11:11 AM_

 _Corridor outside the clinic, Building C, Fairy Tail High, Fiore_

"I'm sorry." The blonde-haired girl bumped into someone while on her way to the master's office. She bowed low, never bothering to look at the person she bumped into, and continued on her way. That was, until said person grabbed her arm and she turned unexpectedly. Brown eyes met shaded ones, and the girl stood shocked.

"I haven't seen you in a long time, Lucy." The grip on her arm tightened, and Lucy shivered as she felt the sense of danger.

For a couple of minutes, she stared and remained speechless. _'Must… control… emotions…'_ she chanted in her head, but her eyes betrayed her. Her captor noticed this and he smirked.

"What happened to your head?" he asked, and the girl finally gained her voice.

"Loke. What-"

"Am I doing here?" he laughed a bitter laugh, "what do you think I'm doing here?" his eyes held an odd, unknown glint that sent shivers down her spine.

"A meteor struck down the mansion so dad had to unfortunately send you here to learn magic to recover the house." She replied with a deadpan expression.

He smiled. "Very close. But no."

She hid her left hand behind her back, forcefully trying to conjure up ice, fire, air, earth, metal, anything. But he drew her hand from behind her back.

"I'm disappointed. You spent three years in this place and still can't use magic to save you."

She then forcefully pushed him away.

"What are you doing here?" she asked once more, and she tried to control the quaking in her voice, "D-does dad know?"

"Know what? That his princess rejected fame, power, wealth and ran away to learn _magic?"_ he laughed, pushing his shades with his index finger. The blonde could do nothing but stare.

"You've finally been found; Lucky Lucy Heartfilia." He walked forwards, stopping to barely whisper, "And I'm not going to lose you a second time around." He passed by her.

"See you around." Her fists clenched and she turned around, biting the inside of her cheek, but he was gone.

The blonde tried to calm her wildly beating heart down and conceal her emotions but to no avail. That was the first time Lucy Heartfilia panicked in a very, very long time.


	3. Chapter 3: Rue the Day

"Opening a test paper, seeing the first question and thinking, 'Yeah, I'm screwed.'"

-Teenager post # 047

 **CHAPTER 3: RUE THE DAY**

 _1_ _st_ _day of classes; 12:10 AM_

 _Temporary Classroom, Building B, Fairy Tail High, Fiore_

While Building A was subjected to being fixed and reconstructed, classes in said building were variously moved to vacant classrooms in B, C, and D; class 3-A in particular, was moved to Building B.

Erza Scarlet entered the new classroom and the first thing she heard were the various whispers of 'class mayor' and 'magic soccer club' and 'transferee', the redhead wondered what exactly was drawing most of the female population's attention and took her seat.

' _They mentioned something about the position of the 'class mayor'. I have to know the root of this disturbance.'_ Erza thought, eyeing her classmates' faces with serious concentration.

"Juvia." Erza called to a certain blue-haired girl, who tensed for a second before regaining her composure.

"Good afternoon, Erza. What did you call Juvia for?" The girl asked Erza, who looked as if a very humorless, major problem popped up.

"What's going on? The girls in our class seem disturbed." Erza crossed her arms, while Juvia sweat-dropped at her grave expression.

"It's nothing, really. Juvia and the others were just talking about the transferee." The blue-haired girl explained, but the darkening of Erza's expression told her the explanation wasn't enough.

"What do you mean? And what about the position of class mayor?"

' _It's the Armageddon tomorrow.'_ Juvia thought and looked at the others, who pretended to now talk about something vapid like the weather and math class. She really didn't want to be the one to tell Erza Scarlet about the class officer elections.

"Juvia?" Erza's eyes stared dangerously.

"You see…" the red-haired girl raised an eyebrow.

"The elections happened while-" the girl was interrupted by the redhead's hand slapping on her desk.

"The elections what?" she asked.

Juvia looked to the others once more, finding them three rows away by now. The blue-haired girl's eyes flickered left and right, a silent plea for help, and caught the eyes of the most unlikely person in the room, two seats behind Erza Scarlet.

' _Had she always been there?'_ Juvia frowned, recalling in vain who the blonde-haired girl was.

She grabbed the oblivious girl by the hand, presented her to Erza, and proceeded to dash out of the classroom. Erza Scarlet then stared at the blonde, whose patience was growing thin by the second.

"Hi." Lucy said,

"Hi." Erza said back, "I want to know about the class elections. If there isn't someone intelligible enough to tell me, I might have to take a look at all your brains to find out what's wrong. And I might use my sword in doing so."

"Gray Fullbuster is the new class mayor." The redhead simply stared at the expressionless blonde.

"Pardon?" she tilted her head to the right.

"Gray Fullbuster." Lucy grabbed a nearby squealing girl's phone, who turned with a dignified 'Hey!' and continued, "He's the new class president."

The redhead was seething as she looked at phone, and she recognized the familiar pitch black eyes.

"The ice mage who wrecked our classroom?!" Erza howled, standing with hands gripping the sides of her desk. "When did this happen?" she hissed.

"The elections took place while you were at the clinic." Lucy answered back, returning the phone to its owner.

The red-haired girl took deep, calming breaths, before once more taking her seat. She primly folded her hands at her desk. "Okay. You may go." She told the blonde, who sweat-dropped and tilted her head questioningly, but nevertheless went back to her seat.

' _Gray Fullbuster. You'll rue the day you took my place.'_ Erza Scarlet thought contemptuously.


	4. Chapter 4: Rainstorm

"That fake laugh you do when you don't know what someone just said."

-Teenager post # 7108

 **CHAPTER 4: RAINSTORM**

 _8:02 PM_

 _Lobby, Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

"Then I heard mom calling me into the kitchen," a girl with short, white hair was narrating over the candle's constant flickering while another thunder boomed outside.

Fairy Hills; the official female dormitory of Fairy Tail High, consisting of rooms large enough to keep a magical zoo, but has a rent price of a hundred thousand jewels per month.

It was a typical Monday night to say the least; save for the fact that there was a raging rainstorm and it was currently Fiore's Annual Magic Saving Hour, an event governed by the Magic Council, which means that using magic in all of Fiore is halted for an hour, starting from eight in the evening.

And so the girls of Fairy Hills had also made it an annual event to swap horror stories in the large and spacious dormitory lobby.

"So when I was heading down the stairs, I heard a whisper from the closet," Lisanna Strauss whispered. Seated in a full circle were ten girls, eight of them with frightened, focused expressions, save for two people; the storyteller and her older sister.

"It said, 'Don't go down there, honey, I heard it t-"

"STOP!" Laki Olietta, the lavender-haired wood-make mage suddenly interrupted the suspense-filled story, silencing everyone.

"Someone's at the door." She stated, seconds of noiselessness passed. Until the sound the doorknocker loudly banging against the wooden door caused disturbed, haunted expressions.

"Who's gonna go get it?" Cana Alberona nervously looked around her circle of friends, no one in particular eager to get up and open the door. Another thunder boomed in the distance.

"Come on; acting like this when we're all powerful soon-to-be-mages from Fairy Tail." Evergreen brought a shaking fist up in supposed encouragement.

"Yeah, so we should just let the 'Fairy' handle this, right?" Mirajane Strauss happily noted, to which Evergreen's face paled. The doorknocker banging once more had everyone literally sent goosebumps down the girls' spines.

"Speaking of Fairies, Titania should-" Sherry Blendy nervously twirled a strand of her hot pink hair and turned to her right, where the scarlet-haired girl's place was supposed to be, 'supposed' being the keyword.

Everyone blinked in confusion.

"Where's Erza?" Levy McGarden asked, the poor, innocent book in her hands about to be compressed into nothingness.

"Oh, right!" Wendy Marvell face-palmed, "She called awhile ago; she's stranded in the cake shop. But she said she'll definitely catch up later on the annual horror story telling." Everyone sighed; others in relief that the head girl was not associated with a ghostly happening and others in unease that their chances of someone volunteering to open the door flew out the window.

"And no one's noticed that 'till now?" Bisca Mulan joined the blue-haired girl in her face-palming.

Whoever was at the door was then getting impatient, as the heavy knocks, followed by what they thought were strong kicks were now continuously heard. Panic quickly arose. Some were covering their ears, others began arguing, some muttered their final goodbyes to Earthland, and some began writing their final will.

"Juvia thinks we should all go open the door." The water mage then suggested, as everyone suddenly looked at each other with their best 'you-should've-said-that-earlier' expression.

"Alright, then. Let's go open that door." Lisanna bravely declared, being the first to get up.

On the way to the door, a certain bookworm gasped in realization.

"Err, guys; it could be Erza on the other side, you know." The ten girls' faces were drained of color, now imagining what it would be like to face an angry, impatient, and soaking wet Erza. They were going to be buried alive at her mercy, after having their eyes poked with a fork and facing her ten swords attack; everyone thought in unison.

But not a second later, a familiar voice howled from outside, "Open the door or I'm burning this building to dust!"

' _Natsu?'_ Lisanna recognized, _'He does realize that this is the female dormitory… right?'_ she ran forward and unlocked the several indestructible door locks.

"KARYUU NO-"

And the door opened with loud creak, saving the dorm from the oncoming fire wreckage, and furthermore, revealing a drenched Natsu Dragneel, looking like Earthland was at the edge of destruction, and carrying on his back an unconscious, blonde-haired girl.

"Do I still need to face Erza to enter the dorm?"

 _8:07 PM_

 _Magnolia Cake Shop, Magnolia, Fiore_

A certain red-haired girl was looking out the window in obvious unease, her slender fingers continuously click-clacking on the table with nervousness.

"I wonder if everyone's fine back at the dorm." She whispered out loud with a sigh, spoon digging onto her thirteenth strawberry cheesecake serving.

The door to the shop then suddenly opened with the sound of heavy rain, everyone's eyes moving from the weird couple to the source of disturbance.

The half-naked raven-haired student who entered the shop made Erza Scarlet frown in recognition. Pitch black eyes scanned the room until landing on a familiar scarlet-haired girl. He then made his way towards said girl.

"Never thought I'd run into the stunning Erza Scarlet here of all places." Gray Fullbuster cast her a certain smile rumored to make most of the girls turn to jelly and took a seat, proceeding to freeze the water on him.

"Ah, be still my heart." She dryly replied, earning a scowl from the raven-haired boy.

Silence then encompassed the three.

"Well, this is awkward." Gray Fullbuster stated, as uncaring as ever.

" _You_ are awkward. And put some clothes on." The scarlet-haired girl snapped, as Gray proceeded to look at himself in shock of his clothing's absence.

He then proceeded to cast a disapproving look at her, "Hey, I'm the class mayor." He declared, as Erza felt her blood boiling at being reminded.

"So?" she crossed her arms, her chin up.

"So I think I deserve a little respect, don't I?" He mirrored her look by stubbornly crossing his arms too.

Gray's face lit up in realization, "Oh yeah, I forgot. You're still on your period." He so much as announced to all of Fiore.

Erza Scarlet grabbed the neighboring table's porcelain bowl filled with scalding soup and threw it straight at Gray Fullbuster's face.

' _This is gonna be a long rainstorm,'_ the two thought in unison.


	5. Chapter 5: Freezing

"Hearing yourself sing in the shower and wondering why the hell you haven't made an album yet."

-Teenager post # 3389

 **CHAPTER 5: FREEZING**

 _8:08 PM_

 _Magnolia Cake Shop, Magnolia, Fiore_

"Is strawberry cheesecake your favorite, Scarlet?" he asked, thinking about how he actually didn't give a care about cakes in all of Earthland.

"Yes, it is. And you have an attention span of a Yeti, by the way." Erza Scarlet held a hand up to order her twenty-first serving.

Gray's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. _'Why a Yeti?'_ he thought, deciding not voice it out for the best though. A second later, he felt his phone vibrate, quickly reading the message and thinking, _'Finally. Fi. Na. Lly.'_

"Anyways," the raven-haired student finally got up, "This has been really nice-"

"No, it hasn't." Erza snapped.

"-but I've got to go." Quickly, Fairy Hill's head girl tightly grabbed a hold his wrist, to which Gray Fullbuster stopped in his tracks and tensed.

"You've got a ride, don't you?" she suspiciously asked, seeing as the rainstorm did not cease in the slightest bit.

He smirked, "Are you asking me a favor, Scarlet?"

"No, I'm not. And," she stubbornly replied, intensifying her grip on the ice mage's wrist, "I'm coming with. Destination's Fairy Hills."

 _8:08 PM_

 _Vacant Room, Third Floor, Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

" _It was a dark, cold night. And the thunder coming in with the rain was intense. Like, seriously, it's got nothing on Laxus' thunder. Which I bet my Karyuu no Tekke-"_

"Would you just get on with it?" Cana Alberona irritatingly asked, as Natsu the narrator cleared his throat.

The lot sat in a half-circle, a candle in the middle and facing the queen-sized bed where the blonde-haired girl lay still unconscious.

' _So, I was in a nearby magic shop,'_

"You mean magic _prank_ shop?" Evergreen asked, to which Natsu only cleared his throat one more time.

"Moving on. _I was in a nearby magic shop when I saw her running through the rainstorm with an umbrella. But then she stopped beside the river. I thought she might've seen a dragon, because who would stop in the middle of a rainstorm, right?_

 _A second later, she dropped her umbrella and jumped into the river!"_

"Maybe she was trying to commit suicide?" Bisca questioned, but the fire mage shook his head in disagreement.

" _That's what I thought at first, but when I rushed outside, I saw her one-handedly clinging on a tree root, while her other hand held this fluffy, white stuff."_

"And you jumped into the river, right? _Please_ tell me you jumped into the river a second later. Because if you had been staring and figuring the situation for a minute; it's your fault she's in this state." Lisanna reprimanded.

"Well, yeah, I kinda jumped in after; but that was when she let go of the branch."

Everyone face-palmed.

" _The current was very strong, but she was still struggling really hard under the water. It was crazy! We were repeatedly being shoved to the rocky side of the river and bits of floating debris and wood kept hitting us. That was when things got really weird."_

"What? What happened? Don't tell me you saw a dragon." Laki commented, earning a pout from the fire mage.

"Hey, no jokes about dragons. Anyways; _suddenly, this huge, bright, white light covered her entire body, and stopped her being carried away by the current._

 _It was really bright; like, you have to wear magical sunglasses to-"_

"Um, Natsu? Can we go back to the story?" Mirajane Strauss intervened with a gentle smile.

"Why is everyone interrupting me?" Natsu Dragneel comically frowned.

" _So this white circle of light was pushing away the water in mysterious, glowing swirled forms, and I could perfectly see her in a fetal position, embracing something definitely white and rounded._

 _Once I touched the circle of light, however; it burst! And then the river current returned. But that was enough, though. I successfully caught her and we blasted through the river with my Karyuu no Kagizume._

Pretty cool story, right?" he finished with a satisfied grin.

"But what was the white, fluffy, round thing she was holding?" Juvia asked, as the fire mage remembered in a jolt.

"Oh, yeah. Here he is." Wrapped his scarf, was a cute, definitely white, fluffy and round thing. The creature, after being unwrapped, opened his dainty eyes and got up with little, shaking feet. The girls gasped at the adorable creature. 

"So Natsu, what is it?" Lisanna asked, to which the fire mage shrugged in less care.

"Beats me." Natsu replied.

"It's so white and clean." Mirajane added, patting the cutesy, unidentifiable thing on the head.

"And it has a carrot for a nose." Laki poked the hard, shiny, carrot-like cone the little guy had for a nose.

"Oh, I know what it is." Sherry clasped her hands, as the white creature turned its bland eyes to the speaker.

"What is it?" Levy asked, lifting one of its shaky arms. Everyone waited in anticipation.

"Its… _love._ " The pink-haired girl replied, to which the eight girls and fire mage had literally nothing else left to say.

Cana shook her head, "It's a snowman." she stated obviously.

"Nope, now that I think of it, it's a dog." Natsu Dragneel joined the conversation,

"Juvia thinks it's a silver key celestial spirit." The water mage added, to which everyone looked at her with indescribable poker faces.

"Yep, it's gotta be an enchanted snowman." Cana Alberona stated once more.

"Definitely a dog, just look at its little paws." Natsu mentioned.

"Puu-puuun," The white creature stumbled across the floor, resulting in cuteness overload that was too much for most of the girls to handle.

"Well, whatever he is, I'm keeping him. He'd find my garden-for-the-fairies suiting enough!" Evergreen adjusted her glasses, to which the little guy replied with another 'pun-puuun'.

"Pets aren't allowed in the dorm, Evergreen." Bisca Mulan reminded reprimandingly,

"As if I was the one who kept a zoo in my room." Evergreen retorted, watching the snow-like, dog-like thing get up once more and shakily make its way towards the bed; where Lucy was currently being tended to.

"She's still freezing." Wendy Marvell wiped the sweat off her forehead and frowned, now unable to heal the few remaining bruises and cuts on the blonde-haired girl's arms and legs. "If only I had more magic energy." The blue-haired girl pouted.

"Its fine, Wendy; you've done alright." Mira soothed the young girl, a bright smile on her angelic features.

"She's freezing, huh?" Natsu Dragneel got up with a sigh and walked towards the bed. He stared at her shivering form, before messing his cherry pink locks, mumbling a quick 'got no choice, then.'

The girls stared in silence, before their passive expressions broke with jaw-drops and gasps.

Natsu, with a nonchalant expression, got in the bed and gathered the shivering blonde-haired girl in his arms; particularly trapping her form between his legs and his arms in a tight embrace while her head gently leaned on his chest.

"Puu-puuun!" the little guy raised a hand.

"T-That's not legal!" Laki hastily covered her blushing cheeks, pointing an accusing finger at the fire mage. The fire mage tilted his head in bliss confusion.

"What's not legal?" he asked, as the majority of the girls shook their head in frustration.

"That's a very intimate position, Natsu." Lisanna remarked, to which Natsu responded by raising a confused eyebrow.

"What is?"

"Yep, be glad the surveillance lacrimas aren't working. Or else…" Bisca shivered at what their strict housekeeper would say. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Juvia's more worried that Erza will deep fry and serve you at dinner _alive_ if she catches you doing 'that.'" Juvia thoughtfully commented. Everyone, with more vigor, nodded in agreement.

Natsu looked at them with annoyance, "But she'll freeze if-" before the fire mage could even complete his sentence, a new, very familiar voice echoed through the dimly lit room.

"If what, Natsu Dragneel?" the dark aura seeped through everyone's skin.

"Natsu?! That fire-breathing lizard is here?!" another voice called out, before his eyes landed on said fire mage and the familiar blonde in a compromising position.

"Isn't that girl in our class?" Gray Fullbuster asked Erza, the latter ignoring the former.

"W-welcome back, Erza. And unknown shirtless person," Wendy tried to smile, which resulted in it coming out like a sad, pitiful upwards-turn-of-the-lips.

"Unknown person?" Gray voice out, after shortly being drowned by Erza Scarlet's authoritative voice.

"And may I ask why you're violating dorm rule number one-o-one on Public Display of Affections?"

' _May the Almighty Spirit bless his soul.'_ The girls thought at his oncoming demise. 


	6. Chapter 6: Moonlight

"I hate it when you have to be nice to someone you really want to throw a brick at."

-Teenager post # 5908

 **CHAPTER 6: MOONLIGHT**

 _8:18 PM_

 _Vacant Room, Third Floor, Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

"So what exactly happened?" Erza asked, calmly sipping black coffee.

The pink-haired fire mage simply rolled his eyes at Gray Fullbuster, who had been, for the last five minutes, rolling on the floor whilst laughing at the large, stinging bump on the fire mage's head; courtesy of Erza and her iron fists.

"Speak, Dragneel." Erza Scarlet demanded, cautiously eyeing the white, suspicious creature beside the unconscious blonde.

"I will, once the little ice princess shuts up." He glowered at the ice mage.

"Fullbuster, shut up." Erza bossily ordered, making the cryomancer shoot a glare at the requip mage.

"I'm _your_ class mayor. You can't just tell me to shut u-" the girls, sensing the drastic increase in Erza's 'Impatience Meter', hastily shoved a nearby pillow in his face, effectively muffling whatever words he said that would cause the apocalypse, held his arms and legs down, and cheerfully smiled at Erza Scarlet.

"You were saying, Natsu?" Mira purposefully misdirected Erza's attention, to which everyone sighed in relief once she did resume to questioning Natsu.

"So, it went like this," Natsu Dragneel, for the second time that day, told his tale of 'heroism', at least, in his opinion.

 _8:23 PM_

 _Vacant Room, Third Floor, Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

Erza gasped dramatically, "She's freezing? Why didn't you say so?! Dragneel, hurry and get to warming her at once!"

"That was what I was doing, until you punched a hole in my head." The fire mage complained, to which Erza ignored.

"I don't care! Hurry and warm her up!" she ordered with fiery eyes and watched as Natsu lazily got up and walked towards the bed.

"Heat. We need more heat. I shall go get more candles!" Erza got up and briskly walked out of the room.

"Shouldn't someone go with her?" Levy asked, earning incredulous, surprised stares from everyone.

"Who'd want to?" Evergreen asked.

"That's a little bit mean, Ever." Wendy jokingly reprimanded.

"Couldn't Natsu just use his fire magic to heat up the place?" Sherry asked,

"No, Juvia thinks he'd burn the entire dorm down if he tried." Answered Juvia, earning an indignant 'hey!' from the fire mage.

The ice mage, on the other hand, finally broke free from the horrendous, confining pillow with a loud gasp. He looked around, and finding his target absent, walked towards the door.

"That's it! I've got a bone to pick with Scarlet! Hey strawberry-hair!" Gray Fullbuster, still half-naked, stormed out of the room; calling for the one and only Titania of Fairy Tail High. The remaining students, on the other hand, were internally debating whether to follow the two and save Earthland from destruction, or just stay put and save their lives.

"Did he just call her 'strawberry-hair'?" Laki sweat-dropped, thankful that Erza wasn't present.

Everyone looked at one another with silent comprehension, deciding to just stay put and save their lives after all.

 _8:25 PM_

 _Kitchen, Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

A certain requip mage was standing tiptoed on chair, a small beam of light produced by her finger as she searched the top cabinet for the box of lavender candles. She was in deep concentration, thinking about spells which could instantly search for what the user needed, whilst rummaging through the messy, disorganized cabinet.

The rainstorm had finally ceased, it being replaced with a clear, bright, full moon. The moonlight shone and passed through the large windows, making the room dimly lit.

She frantically knocked the other things aside in worry for the freezing blonde-haired girl, not at all minding her surroundings until the slither of a smooth, dark voice filled the girl's ears.

"Scarlet." It dangerously whispered, and she whirled around in disarray.

That being done, the chair, the _blasted, unforgivable chair,_ she thought, toppled with great force, forcing the rather jolted scarlet-haired girl to fall and land on something breathing, cold, and very much alive.

Erza Scarlet, losing composure every time her personal space was invaded, couldn't, for the life of her, speak, breathe, nor move.

So she just stared. She stared at the all too familiar black, midnight orbs in the moonlight. Her legs were in between his, both her hands slightly propped up against him while his hands were on the cold, tiled floor.

His skin radiated cool, icy freshness. And his raven hair was slightly ruffled, covering just the top of his eyes.

' _His hair would feel like metal spikes, Erza. Metal, softly glowing, hypocrite spikes. Snap out of it.'_ Her mind screamed at her, but she could do nothing but gape and stare. Like a fish, she horridly thought.

Gray Fullbuster, on the other hand, came looking for an explanation; or a fight, rather, with the bossy Titania. Until she comically fell on him.

Originally, he thought she pounced on him with every intention of skewering him with a machete, or an axe, or whatever murdering weapon she preferred in the dark.

But in this awkward situation, where he could feel every soft puff of breath she took, he found the idea of facing her wrath much more likable and pleasant.

She smelled like strawberries, he thought; and he wanted to slap himself for the split-second idea of thinking he actually _liked_ her scent. Her skin glowed in the moonlight, his hateful subconscious continued to notice, and her hair, which he never cared less about its length before, came in fury tangles and pooled at the floor just beside his face.

"You smell good." He whispered, causing the red-haired girl to mentally scream, if that was even possible.

He blinked in momentarily confusion. And slowly, he brought a hand up.

Erza, the ever unfazed, felt very fazed, dizzy, and nervous. And very, very much demented.

And then he flicked her forehead. Hard.

"You intemperate cryomancer!" she found herself sitting on the floor in a second, a hand over her forehead, and glared swords the laughing ice mage, who also sat up, a hand carelessly flung over his knee while the other propped himself on the floor.

"You should've seen your face, Scarlet." He continued to laugh, "I didn't know I was _that_ captivating." He jokingly commented, watching in delight as her eyes radiated hell.

"You do smell good, though." And he didn't even know, for all the cares he gave in Earthland, why he was trying to appease the girl.

"What are you, a dog?" she snarled, grabbing a dropped can of tuna and throwing it towards his forehead in irk.

He froze the incoming flying can at the last minute with a sigh of relief and smiled at her.

"Why do you like throwing things so much?" he questioned, eyeing the can of tuna as if it would once more come alive and hit him on the head.

"I like to practice my target shooting." She answered imperiously, grabbing another dropped cup noodles and this time, successfully hitting the ice mage.

"I do know your weakness now, though." He cast her a full-fledged devilish grin, which she thought was a flash warning for an oncoming attack, and in a second, his face was once more mere inches from hers.

' _That worked out pretty quickly.'_ He smirked as her eyes slightly widened and all her violent to-be thrashings ceased. He then moved away in triumph, leaving the red-haired girl looking for something else to throw.

"You're cute." He vaguely pointed out, while she huffed and crossly looked away.

"Gag me with a spoon." She scowled.

Gray Fullbuster stood up, reaching over the top cabinet, and drew the ' _blasted box of scented candles',_ thought by her. Erza's eyes widened at the sight of the said candles.

"You inconsiderable prick! We've wasted so much time!" she exclaimed, snatching the box of candles away and left the kitchen, only to be followed by him.

"So now it's _my_ fault?" he indignantly asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Who else would it be?" she replied back, not bothering to slow her pace down.

"Who fell on me in the first place?" he shot back while she dropped the box of candles on the floor, faced him with unimaginable rage, and requipped a very deadly-looking, sharp scythe.

She was out for blood, he preposterously thought as she brandished it blindly in the dark.

"That never happened, Fullbuster." She exclaimed every word with a swish, as the ice mage dodged and blocked with nothing more than luck.

"It did, Scarlet." He managed to get out, barely missing her last swing as his hands gripped around the scythe's base handle, effectively stopping the killing machine.

"Okay, you need to chill." Gray noted, as she sent the weapon back to her dimension, to his sheer gratefulness.

"I do not need to do anything. I am perfectly calm and reasonable for that reason." She retorted, picking up the candles and continued brisk walking.

"You'd be much cuter without the bloodlust, though." He jovially tried to irk her. Once again, why he was trying to put effort in annoying the red-haired girl was beyond his understanding.

"You're insufferable." She primly replied, entering the vacant room where everyone was temporarily gathered with him in tow.


	7. Chapter 7: Detention

"When I play a fighting game, I press random buttons and hope for the best."

-Teenager post # 7839

 **CHAPTER 7: DETENTION**

 _8:28 AM_

 _Vacant Room, Third Floor, Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

She had been dreaming of candy-colored clouds and little dancing white puppies. It was pure bliss; she was wrapped in a soft, warm, gentle, transparent bubble; overlooking kingdoms of cutesy snowmen who swam in pink, gently flowing rivers.

But the bubble in which she was encased in suddenly vibrated with a mumble, sounding like a faint "Gerroff me," or perhaps a jumbled "Five more minutes."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the speaking bubble, and her hands moved to touch and pop the bubble, but finding out she was actually poking at someone. Her chocolate brown eyes flew open in shock and awareness.

The first thing she saw was the white, scale-like scarf; the first sensation she felt was his warm hands wrapped tightly around her, and so the first thing she did was push the stranger off the bed with a loud, dignified 'Kyaa!'

"What's the big idea?" the offended muttered, rubbing the spot where his head hit the floor and confusedly staring at the blonde-haired girl who gathered the sheets of blanket around her.

"Who are you?!" she exclaimed, "And what have you done to my purity?!" she shrieked, further clutching the sheets around her.

He tilted his head in genuine lack of understanding of what in Fiore's kingdom she was talking about.

' _Purity? Oh, she must mean 'that.'_ He thought in realization.

He smiled brightly, "Don't worry; the others took good care of it last night."

She almost fainted hearing those words.

"Puun?" a new voice muffled by the sheets startled the poor blonde-haired girl so much that she flung the struggling thing across the room the second it emerged under the covers.

"Hey, why'd you do that to 'purity'?" Natsu Dragneel asked, watching as the girl stumbled across the floor towards the cute little guy.

Flashes of the river, the rainstorm, and someone swimming towards her flooded her memory.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" Lucy cried out, proceeding to help the white thing to its cute paws. The little guy mumbled a grateful 'puun' with dizzy eyes.

She then turned to the pink-haired boy, who was currently sitting on the floor, with a frown.

"You don't mean he is the 'purity' you're talking about, right?" she asked incredulously, while the boy slightly nodded.

"Well, he _is_ white and pure, y'know." He retorted, as Lucy simply sighed and closed her eyes in relief.

' _Nothing happened. No need to panic. I'm not going to be a mother. Thank Earthland.'_ She reassured herself.

"What happened yesterday? And where are we?" she asked, looking around the unfamiliar room, and with a shriek that made the fire mage think she suddenly saw a dragon, she asked.

"What time is it?!"

 _12:03 PM_

 _Class 3-A, Building A, Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

"We're so sorry!" a certain blue-haired girl bowed low while gripping a huge textbook. Lucy simply waved her hands and smiled nervously at everyone around her. She's never been surrounded by her classmates, and its drawing attention. And attention, whatever kind it is, isn't good; she mused.

"It's okay. It's fine." She repeated for the umpteenth time, but the ten girls who formed a circle around her shook their heads vehemently.

"We forgot about you when we were all rushing to get to school early." Laki Olietta exclaimed,

"Yeah, and we didn't even know we were classmates until Gray told us so." Cana said forlornly,

"And to think we left you with _him,_ " Mirajane sadly spoke, looking towards the fire mage who was in a contest of fire-ice eating with his cryomancer rival.

"Juvia hopes he didn't burn your hair or accidentally fire-punched you." The water mage supposed, earning another 'No, he didn't,' and 'It's all fine,' from Lucy.

"Well I, being the class mayor shall-" Erza Scarlet paled while reminded of her position, "I mean, I guess we could threaten Fullbuster to convince the professor to withdraw your ticket to detention."

"Yes, being tardy because of Natsu Dragneel could be a valid excuse. In other words," Sherry started, "Love."

Lucy couldn't disagree more.

"Alright then, it's settled." Erza turned to the ice mage, "Fullbuster! We need you here at once." She bossily ordered, the ice mage deliberately ignoring the pushy requip mage and continued eating huge chunks of ice.

"No, really. It's fine. Besides, it's only once. And how bad could it be?" the blonde-haired girl reiterated, thinking about how much jeopardy them giving her attention would cause trouble.

' _It's just detention. And then everything will be back to the ordinary, normal, unnoticeable days.'_ Or so she thought.

 _3:40 PM_

 _Vacant Classroom; Building C, Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

The black sheep of Fairy Tail High gather in a vacant classroom for a special meeting called 'detention.'

Other than the usual rowdy students, there was one new, unfamiliar and unnoticed blonde-haired girl, sitting by the window to the right, writing away in a black notebook while students around her took their time doing whatever they were used to doing; i.e., sleeping, eating and chatting.

' _To the Book I refuse to call Diary,'_ she wrote in a not-so-very elegant handwriting.

' _High school. That one word that brings every single situation, ranging from invisibility moments to moments where the whole school stare and look at you possible.'_

She looked at the students who began throwing paper airplanes, pen slightly stopping before she continued.

' _High school. That one place where, as quote by one of our school's most well-known troublemaker, Gajeel Redfox, 'The weak becomes food for the strong.' is actually implied.'_

She noticed the look of disdain on the meek teacher's face in front as she attempted to quiet the class down.

' _High school. The place where things in skirts six inches below the waist rule ogres who walk the corridors of the very school.'_

She turned to her right, directly staring at a girl who had her feet propped up against one of the desks.

' _High school. The place where boys whose heads are literally stuck in basketball hoops rule girls who swoon to their every move.'_

She directed her stare to the front, where a boy was twirling a basketball with his index finger.

' _High school. The noun which describes my hell.'_ She sighed out loud.

' _High school. Detention was the worst; no magic was allowed, and long story short, I got it when me and a classmate of mine were late for more than an hour because… of certain reasons.'_

She looked around the room, the teacher just walked out in tears.

' _And, well, I love to write. So right now, I shall right to the very core of my emotions._

 _So, my name here at Fairy Tail High is_ _Lucy_ _Valentine._

 _My passion is writing and magic. Everyone, now that we're at our last year in high school, had seemed to have found and chosen what certain aspect of magic they excelled at. Some had been born as natural fire mages, others found water easy enough to control, some had never been bothered by the ice's coldness, and others were fond of weaponry and requipping._

 _Meanwhile, I'm just sitting here like,_ _that wall… is a nice wall._ _Story of my life._

 _But I don't pity myself, I never had, and never will get to the point where I turn my speakers to full blast playing sad, depressing music. I'm just not that desperate. I mean, okay, sometimes I get a little carried away and end up eating plates of-that's not the point!_

 _Let's continue. I shall have my specialized corner of magic at the end of the year. This is my promise to-'_

"Well, what do we have here?" Lucy literally jumped out of her seat and hurriedly closed the black notebook, looking behind her to see Fairy Tail High's very own Sorcerer Weekly violence and destruction sensation, Natsu Dragneel, looking past her shoulder.

"Hi." He smiled. She stared with no emotions present.

"Hi." She replied, her eyes turning towards the blackboard as he wracked his brain for things to say. Natsu Dragneel felt compelled to talk to the blonde-haired girl. She was so unlike everyone at Fairy Tail, she was unnoticed, and disregarded, and she was so _quiet_ that it made him curious to know what was going on inside that pretty head of hers.

He pulled a chair and sat beside her, much to her dismay. "Oh yeah, I haven't even formally introduced myself. I'm-" he started to say, until she cut him off.

"Natsu Dragneel. Fire mage. And my classmate." She finished monotonously.

Something was off about her, Natsu thought; it seemed _very_ hard to converse with her.

"So your name's Lucy Valentine, huh?" he asked, she replied with a tense nod.

' _Now what?'_ he thought, actually _thinking_ about things to talk for the first time.

"Sorry for getting us into detention." He started the conversation once more, as she sighed tiresomely.

"It's fine."

"And for shocking you this morning."

"It's fine."

"And calling your pet 'purity.'"

Lucy wanted to just drift away.

"And for-"

"You know what, I'm sorry. I don't feel so good today. I'd appreciate the silence." Lucy ended the conversation with that sentence.

"Oh, ok." He replied. She was motionless, keeping her eyes on the board and waiting for him to just go away.

Unfortunately for her, he didn't. He continued to sit there beside her, tapping his fingers relentlessly on the desk. He flicked his eyes from her to the front, and she sighed in annoyance.

"It sure is noisy in here." He dully commented, and she rued the remaining minutes of detention.

"Yeah." She replied back, making it painfully obvious that she _wanted to be alone._

Two awkward minutes later and Natsu couldn't stand the inactivity.

"Wanna go get some ice cream later?" he turned to the blonde-haired girl with hopeful eyes.


	8. Chapter 8: A Momentarily Truce

"Looking at your textbooks and thinking, 'What a waste of a good tree.'"

-Teenager post # 195

 **CHAPTER 8: A MOMENTARILY TRUCE**

 _4:13 PM_

 _Cake Shop, Magnolia, Fiore_

' _Our first quarter examinations are coming in two months. There's barely enough time for me to review.'_

Erza Scarlet didn't care about anything but her thoughts at the moment.

' _I've got to finish my plans for the magic clubs, the bulletin boards, the Fantasia open-school festival,'_

She walked with concentrated, thoughtful eyes on the floor and holding a plate of a family-sized strawberry cheesecake in the cake shop.

' _The theatrical annual school play, the field trips, the Fairytale-themed centennial dance,'_

She sat down on a random table which she assumed was empty and released a deep sigh.

' _There's just so much to do.'_

"Well, hello to you too, Gray." A new voice startled the scarlet-haired girl. Her eyes jerked forward, the spoon in her hand momentarily hanging in the air.

She put the spoonful of delicate strawberry cheesecake back on the plate. "What are you doing here, Fullbuster?"

"Oh, that's right; I forgot you always called me by my last name, _Scarlet._ " He mockingly replied.

Erza crossed her arms in irk, "You're half naked. Again."

He looked startled for a moment in realization that she was right, before answered with a cool "I did that on purpose."

"Sure you did." She retorted back. "And go find another table."

He raised an eyebrow, daring to defy her for the umpteenth time, "I was here first."

She ignored this comment and glared at him, "Sit somewhere else; people might think we're friends."

"Don't you think I should be saying that?" he sipped on his strawberry milkshake and kept the glaring contest going.

"I hate you." She plainly stated, earning a curious look from the usually uncaring ice mage.

"And that is because?" he asked with a playful smirk that she would just _love_ to wipe off with a chainsaw. Or a sledgehammer.

Before she could retort with a saucy 'Because you're _you,'_ the door opened with a gentle chime.

"Oh, great." Gray Fullbuster muttered with a heavenly roll of his eyes when a certain fire mage walked towards the two.

"I didn't know you two hang out here, Erza." Natsu Dragneel commented with a grin, propping himself on the third chair.

"Trust me, we don't." the ice mage answered, while Erza Scarlet commenced eating her strawberry cheesecake.

"Why're you here, Natsu?" the scarlet-haired girl asked, eyes focused on the dreamy strawberry cheesecake.

"I wanted to go get some ice cream." He answered with a shrug.

"And this is why people call this a _cake_ shop." Gray dully spoke.

"Well I don't see you with any cake either, ice princess." The fire mage retorted with fiery eyes.

"What'd you said, fire-breath?" Gray quickly countered.

The onlooker cut off Natsu before he could come up with anything and resulting in the two turning the cake shop into dust with a "How was detention, Natsu?" her dangerously low voice making the fire mage gulp and stop, the cryomancer snickering in the background.

He thought for a second or so, before answering with a big smile. "I talked to that Lucy girl."

"Stared stupidly while she talked, you mean." Gray mumbled, earning a direct stomp on his foot by the glowering Titania.

"And? Did she, by chance, slap you on the face and walk away?" Erza asked, earning two bewildered stares from her two companions.

"What? No. Why would she do that?" Natsu incredulously asked.

The scarlet-haired girl rolled her eyes, "She's a damsel-in-distress. Who woke up with a stranger who looked ready to strangle her in his sleep."

This earned a mocking laugh from the ice mage, who Natsu turned to glare with loathe.

"I woke up _hugging_ her, Erza. Not strangling." He retaliated.

"Big difference." Gray Fullbuster muttered once more, succeeding in annoying both the requip and fire mage.

"Fullbuster," Erza calmly stated.

"Scarlet," the ice mage taunted with a smirk.

"Dragneel." The oblivious fire mage joined in, noting the glaring contest between the two.

"Do Fiore a favor and stop talking." Erza finished, before turning to Natsu, "If she didn't slap you, what happened?"

"We talked." The fire mage cringed at how well their conversation went, "Then I asked her if she wanted some ice cream."

"She said no, of course." The requip mage chewed on thoughtfully while the fire mage leaned tediously on his right palm, his elbow propping himself on the table.

Gray Fullbuster, never taking an order from the requip mage to simply shut up, asked "You expected her to say yes?"

Natsu nodded, never feeling as dejected as before.

Erza patted him on the back, rather hardly, the fire mage thought; and looked at him with pitiful, emotion-filled eyes. "It's alright, Natsu. First love sometimes comes unrequited. And need time and patience. So you can't just give up!" she exclaimed, earning weird stared from the other people inside the shop.

"What? Love? Patience? No, no, that's not right." the fire mage confusedly thought out loud, but now deliberately being ignored by a moved Erza Scarlet and a sympathizing Gray Fullbuster.

"Okay. Since we're friends, we'll help you." The requip mage momentarily stopped eating the heavenly dessert.

"Help?" Natsu now had no idea in all of Earthland of what was going on.

"We?" Gray asked in unison, the scarlet-haired girl simply nodding in determination.

"Yes, _we,_ Fullbuster; as much painful as that sounds, are going to help Natsu Dragneel attain the utter and blissful romantic cliché high school love story with the girl of his dreams." The scarlet-haired girl finished with a flourish of her hands.

The fire mage simply jaw-dropped and gaped at the two. A loud _'WHAT'_ swirling around in his head.

"Are you calling on a momentarily truce with me, Scarlet?" Gray Fullbuster amusedly asked, oblivious to the confused, dizzy-eyed fire mage.

"Never thought this day would come." Erza shook her head.

"We were mortal enemies for two days, you know." The ice mage stated,

"And we'll be mortal enemies 'till the end of high school." She proclaimed, "But yes. This is, for the sake of a comrade in need, a momentarily truce."

 _4:24 PM_

 _The Apartment, Strawberry Street, Magnolia, Fiore_

Lucy from Fairy Tail unceremoniously and practically dropped dead on her white, plush, queen-sized bed. She closed her eyes, arms spread out, while feeling serene at the much awaited silence.

She should finally feel at peace, she thought; but then there was something else bothering her. It felt like something was missing. She slowly opened her eyes in thought.

Slowly, she got up from her bed and sat down in front of a desk with a plain mirror in front of it. She surveyed herself; same blonde hair, same brown eyes, same uniform, and same skin complexion.

' _What's wrong with you, Lucy?'_ she annoyingly thought, until her eyes travelled towards her reflection's pale, white and bare neck.

She stood up alarmed. Her hands flew up to her neck and felt that it was, indeed, _bare._

' _My necklace. The one mom gave me. It's missing!'_


	9. Chapter 9: Bridge

"Friend: You're so pretty!

Best friend: Shrek called; he said he wants his face back."

-Lolsotrue # 2169

 **CHAPTER 9: BRIDGE**

 _5:13 PM_

 _Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

"So what do you think about locking them inside Horologium?"

Gray Fullbuster casually asked, walking beside the scarlet-haired girl and followed by a skulking pyromancer behind them towards Fairy Hills.

Natsu Dragneel did everything in his power to convince the two that he really didn't need their so-called 'help'. Unfortunately, his 'concerned friends' just stamped a huge 'DENIAL' word on his forehead and proceeded with their crazy planning.

The requip mage turned to him with a disbelieving stare, "The talking grandfather clock inside Master Makarov's office?" she asked, before rubbing her forehead in exasperation. "You are demented."

"What? You said 'romantic cliché high school love story.'" He answered with a yawn.

"Yes, not 'horrifying, strange, awkward setup by Fullbuster the almi-"

"Yes, thank you. I get it." Gray thought it was rather amusing; watching her reaction everytime he cut off her pattern of speech. She looked as if she had been offended in the most inhumane way.

' _We're in a truce, Erza. A momentary, friendly, despicable truce.'_ Erza reminded herself, taking deep, calming breaths.

"Good." She answered, maintaining an air of superiority and making the ice mage dully stare at her with an expression of _'Seriously? That's it?'_ look on his face.

"What about the hiring a skilled assassin to target Lucy? Then Natsu saves her, they both get to know each other, and the rest is history." he suggested once more, earning another incredulous stare from Erza Scarlet.

"You need to visit a psychologist." She simply said, once more thinking about the momentarily truce and how she wasn't allowed to hit him with the hilt of her sword. Even though she was supposed to.

"Speaking of Lucy," Gray noted, noticing the figure of a blonde-haired girl standing in front of Fairy Hill's mahogany doors.

"Hey, pyro," he called to the sulking fire mage, "Your princess is here."

Natsu shot a glare at the ice mage before passing them and running towards the blonde-haired girl.

Lucy's hand was hovering over the door, internally debating whether to knock or just run away in full power.

"Hey, Lucy!" a new voice spoke up, making the said girl turn around with wide, shocked eyes; only to be met by the pink-haired fire mage inches in front of her. Her breathing hitched and she hastily stepped backwards, her clumsiness showing as she stumbled. She'd be sitting on the floor if it wasn't for Natsu wrapping an arm around her waist in support.

"Woah. You alright?" He asked in concern.

Blood rushed to her cheeks.

Unbeknownst to them, Erza Scarlet had discreetly dragged the complaining Gray Fullbuster to the nearest tree. The requip mage's eyes were sparkling delightfully at the scene in front of them.

"So… how long are they going to stay in that position?" Gray whispered, Erza elbowing him and making a frantic 'Sshh' sound.

Seconds passed.

"Seriously. Are they waiting for the background music or something?"

"I swear to Earthland, if you aren't going to keep quie-"

"Guys! She's okay!" Natsu yelled towards the two, Erza face-palming at Natsu's pitiful denseness.

"Hello, Lucy." Erza stepped back from their supposed-to-be inconspicuous hiding place, dragging a muttering Gray Fullbuster by the collar.

' _This week is getting worse by the second.'_ Lucy thought, slightly smiling at the two.

"Why were you behind the tree?" Natsu obliviously asked.

"The view of the house looked better from there." Gray uninterestingly replied, Erza just nodding with scorn at the stupid reason while opening the doors with her key.

 _5:17 PM_

 _Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

"It's not here." Lucy monotonously said. Before facing her fellow companions in the vacant room where she last slept.

"IT'S NOT HERE." She repeated, this time with panic clouding her brown eyes. She looked like she was about to hyperventilate and faint on the spot.

"I-It's okay. Maybe it got swept by the housekeeper in some dark corner of the house." Levy comforted the girl in vain; Lucy's actions getting more frantic by the second.

"Puuun," The snowman-like puppy-like creature said, only heard, noticed and understood by Natsu Dragneel.

"What's that?" he asked, the creature replying with another 'puun'.

"Lucy, your dog said maybe it's in the river." Natsu said, earning disbelieving looks from everyone in the room.

"Juvia can go with Lucy to the river." The blue-haired water mage volunteered, Lucy just furiously nodding her head in lost hope.

 _5:20 PM_

 _The River, Magnolia, Fiore_

Juvia Lockser held some sort of stone in between her hands whilst her eyes were closed in concentration.

Lucy, on the other hand, had the urge to personally jump into the now peaceful river and search for her mother's locket everytime Juvia brought up either trash or some unidentifiable object from the river.

Minutes felt like hours before the water mage opened her eyes and frowned.

"It's not here." She truthfully said, watching as the blonde-haired girl sat helplessly on the ground. Juvia sat by her and silently patted her back, staring while Lucy sobbed weakly.

"It's okay." Juvia comforted, genuinely feeling sad, as the necklace she was looking for definitely held importance.

"It was my mother's locket." Lucy hastily wiped her tears away. "She gave it to me before she… disappeared." The water mage furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not fully understanding. Lucy, realizing her mistake, noticed that Juvia was about to ask about the topic, so she changed the subject immediately; this not going unnoticed by the water mage.

"It that stone a magical water item?" Lucy asked, as Juvia's eyes sparkled brilliantly. Lucy cheered herself for a distraction well done.

"No, it's just an ordinary ice stone I received from someone before." Juvia nostalgically said, and she started her storytelling, Lucy not really listening in full concentration.

 _Flashback_

 _Ten Years Ago_

 _An eight-year-old, blue-haired girl tightly clutched her teddy bear, willing herself not to cry._

 _Her eyes frantically looked around the huge amusement park; it was filled with people, and her parents were nowhere to be found. She had been aimlessly wandering around for the past ten minutes, and her hope that she would be found diminished by the second._

" _I'm lost." She said to no one in particular; thoughts about being sent to the orphanage bringing tears to her eyes._

 _She sat at the edge of the fountain, sobbing helplessly while the people around her were all smiles and laughter._

" _Momma," she called out, "Daddy," her sobs became louder, her tears now freely flowing._

 _She considered just screaming bloody murder and crying like there was no tomorrow. Until someone spoke up._

" _Hey there, princess; is anything wrong?" a raven-haired, shirtless boy about her age approached her with a boyish grin._

 _She sat there; startled and quiet, eyeing the stranger as he took a seat beside her._

" _Don't worry, princess," he spoke reassuringly, "Your knight is finally here to save you." He cheerfully spoke, taking her hand and giving her a chaste kiss on her knuckles, making the girl furiously blush._

 _The boy, noting her reddish face, frowned and stooped in front of her._

" _Are you okay? You look red." He felt her forehead with the back of his hand._

 _What she looked like: Calm and curiously staring at the boy with wide eyes._

 _What her thoughts were: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH._

 _What she said: "I-I'm alright. It's just that… my parents…" she bit her lip in frustration._

 _The raven-haired boy smiled coyly, taking her hand and softly dragging her up._

" _Come on, then. Your prince shall make you smile again."_

 _The two spent the day exploring the amusement park, and it turned out to be the happiest and most fulfilling day of her life; the blue-haired girl thought, watching her new-found friend as they happily rode the merry-go-round. They talked, walked, and even ate her favorite ice cream together._

 _Just when the sun was setting, she finally saw her parents frantically talking to one of the security guards in the amusement park._

 _Her parents were, of course, furious and relieved at the same time. She turned to the boy one last time._

" _Thank you for everything, my prince." She spoke with a blush, and he smiled in return._

" _It was my pleasure, princess." He comically bowed, and started to walk away._

" _Wait!" She said, grabbing a hold of his hand, "Take this." She removed her blue, diamond-inlaid hairclip and gave it to him._

" _Don't forget me, alright?" she childishly asked,_

 _The boy simply raised an eyebrow in amusement._

" _I won't." he replied, before handing her a curious ice-looking stone, connected to a dark, red string in return._

" _Take care, princess." and they finally parted ways._

"It was only when we got home that I realized; I didn't even knew his name." she turned to her right, facing her companion who was supposed to be sitting just beside her. The wind blew and she found herself sitting alone by the riverside.

"Err, Lucy?" 

_1:56 AM_

 _The River, Magnolia, Fiore_

A certain scarlet-haired girl stopped writing.

She set her pen aside and stared at the digital alarm clock feeling a sense of dread when the red digits flashed 1:56 AM. Erza Scarlet did this a lot. Reviewing non-stop and always starting and completing various drafts of her plans concerning Fairy Tail High. God knows just how much she loved the school.

She wrapped up everything and arranged her things with a spell, begrudgingly dragging herself to bed and flicking the bedpost lamp off.

The weird part was she didn't even feel a bit sleepy. She groaned and relentlessly turned.

Minutes passed and she was still consciously staring the ceiling. She got up and sat contemplating things, before deciding that she just probably needed some fresh air.

She grabbed her phone by the bedside table and stealthily got up; using the screen light to walk out of the room and into the balcony, bare-foot and clad in nothing but a thin, silky nightgown.

Her eyes began scanning her dark surroundings as a cool breeze blew through her scarlet hair.

Her eyes stopped short of their roaming and landed on a fairly bright square of light directly in front of her.

' _Who's up and defying curfew sleeping hours?'_ Her eyebrows furrowed in disdain, knowing full well that she was, herself, also awake at the moment.

The boys' dorm was just across the girls' dorm. And she continued to stare at the brightly lit up room.

A silhouette passed through the transparent glass, the shadow seemed to be holding a phone to his ear, and running a hand through his hair as he paced the room back and forth.

She checked her phone and the screen lit up, now the digits read 2:05. She was about to go back inside her room when the sound of the balcony door sliding open made her freeze on the spot.

A familiar raven-haired ice mage stepped out of his room and into the balcony, his eyes slightly widening in surprise at the red-haired girl standing across the other side, phone in hand, and eyes unblinking.

' _Maybe he can't see me. I'll just go back now.'_ She was stealthily about to step backwards, when she nearly jumped at something vibrating in her right hand.

Erza glanced down, and she saw the screen of her phone lighting up; the words '1 New Message' were visible. She narrowed her eyes before reading the message.

' _ **I know you're still up, Scarlet.'**_ She scowled at the unknown number, knowing full well who just sent it.

' _ **How'd you get my number, Fullbuster?'**_ she typed back,

' _ **I have trusted sources.**_ _ **What are you doing still up?'**_ the message read, and she quickly typed back.

' _ **D**_ _ **oes what I'm doing matter to you?'**_

' _ **I**_ _ **guess not; but if you're about to jump off the balcony then just ignore me and proceed.'**_

She scowled and shot him a menacing glare.

' _ **I can't sleep**_ _ **.'**_ Why she sent that text was beyond her. Maybe her patience and kindness just comes out at such ungodly hours.

' _ **Scared of the Boogeyman**_ _ **? :P'**_

' _How dare that intolerable jerk mock me…'_ she thought.

' _ **Curfew was five hours ago. Go to sleep.'**_

She squinted through the darkness, but instead of seeing him type back a reply, he seemed to float up higher in the air, and walk straight towards her. Her eyes widened as he stopped short, now noticing that he just made an _ice bridge_ in the air. She consciously wrapped her arms around her body.

"What're you doing, Fullbuster?" she hissed.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm floating." He simply whispered back, and she sighed, feeling another cold breeze drift through.

"You're standing on ice." She replied. "And we're breaking rules." She whispered lightly, as he shrugged; now moving to sit on the rails.

"So? It's not like you're going to tell the housekeeper out of guilt." He said, as she just stared seriously at him, as if considering the idea.

"You can't be serious." He shook his head at her.

"Alright; I won't tell anyone." She sighed, feeling the guilt coming on much early than she expected.

"Good."

The silence that followed his reply made her stare almost unconsciously at him. She noticed his slightly ruffled raven hair, his dull, uncaring eyes, and… what just happened?

"Two o'clock has officially driven me insane." She thoughtlessly said, leaning her chin on the palm of her hands, still staring at him.

"Why?" he asked, turning to her with a curiously.

"It makes me think you look good." Her answer just made everything awkward. Until he broke out laughing at her.

"It's been three days and you've already fallen for me, Scarlet." He said in between laughs.

"Dream on, Fullbuster." She lightly punched his shoulder, pouting as she did. Now it was his turn to stare.

 _Cute._

He moved forwards, staring at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. She was instantly frozen, and Erza Scarlet's eyes widened when he huskily whispered in her ear, "Are you trying to seduce me, Scarlet?"

Her jaw dropped, and with a flabbergasted expression, she pushed him away, indignantly watching as he amusedly laughed at her.

"Thank you. Now I am forever scarred." She shot him one last glare before entering her room and angrily shutting the balcony door and drawing the curtains.

"Hn." He simply said with a laugh.

She slightly peeked to see the ice mage walking on his cursed ice bridge towards his balcony and without a second back-glance at her, entered his room and slid the door shut. She sighed in relief, seeing the lights turn off.

She stood with her back against the balcony door for a minute, silently fanning herself in attempt to regain calmness. And air.

The requip mage then finally made her way back to bed where she carefully laid down and put her phone back on the nightstand. Now the digital clock read 2:13 AM.

' _I am not, in the slightest bit, affected._ _'_ the scarlet-haired girl mused, now feeling more tired than ever.

Her eyes were slowly drooping, until the vibration of her phone against the bedside table shook her awake. She grabbed the phone and stared hatefully at the single word contained in the message sent by one of the most unbearable, conceited pricks in the whole universe, to her, that is.

' _ **G**_ _ **oodnight.'**_


	10. Chapter 10: Library

"With great power comes great electricity bill."

-UsHumor

 **CHAPTER 10: LIBRARY**

 _1:13 PM_

 _Great Library, Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

The class of 3-A were in the school library, doing research on the legendary mythical creatures named 'Exceeds.' They were supposed to work in twos and pass their research paper by the end of the period and the teacher, much to the dismay of a certain requip mage, left the class in charge of Gray Fullbuster; the class mayor.

The trio who had the greatest capability to turn the school upside down sat at one table; Erza eyeing the blonde-haired girl who sat alone by the window to the right.

"This is your chance, Natsu." Erza Scarlet fully glared and whispered at the fire mage who just blinked at her in perplexity.

"Chance in what?" he asked, earning an exasperated sigh from the redhead who was very tempted to requip her sword.

"You're forgetting the very reason why we share the same table together." Gray Fullbuster answered, lazily skimming through the pages of 'Mythical Monsters.' Natsu Dragneel then finally rolled his eyes in realization.

"I promise I won't set up the ice bucket up on the classroom's door." Natsu whispered back, while his companions just stared at him.

"Aren't you here to make sure I won't do pranks?" the fire mage asked, Erza finally face-palming.

"You deal with this, Fullbuster; I might punch someone if we continue this conversation." The scarlet-haired girl then moved to the other end of the table and began writing.

Natsu looked at Erza briefly before turning to the ice mage, who was staring at him like some unpleasant, unknown creature.

"What're you looking at, ice princess?" the fire mage asked in annoyance.

"Natsu, over there's a poor classmate in need of a partner." Gray nodded towards the direction of Lucy, who, indeed, Natsu noticed, didn't have a partner for the research paper.

"So…" Natsu Dragneel started, "You… want to be her partner?" he asked.

Gray Fullbuster felt the need to suck out the fire mage's obliviousness with a vacuum.

 _1:18 PM_

 _Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

"This is _exactly_ why Natsu needs us by his side." Erza contemplated, her hand momentarily stopped writing while she discreetly watched the fire mage approach Lucy.

"You do know I'm the class mayor, right?" Gray suddenly interjected, making the requip mage stare at him with a frown.

"I happen to have a _very good_ memory, Fullbuster." She replied in contempt.

"Okay, good. Just wanted to remind you." The ice mage returned to scanning the book, hiding a smirk from the fuming scarlet-haired girl.

Erza, noticing the ice mage's attempt to continuously annoy her, crossed her arms and said, "You can be class mayor, Fullbuster. I, on the other hand, shall be the Supreme Student Government's _President."_ She shot back, Gray turning to look at her in amusement.

"Is that a challenge, Scarlet?" he drawlingly asked, keeping a cool and collected smirk on his face.

"Are you asking for a challenge, Fullbuster?" she replied, twirling a pen on her right hand.

"What if I am?" he whispered back, further leaning towards the scarlet-haired girl.

"Then you've got one." She bossily raised an eyebrow and returned to the task at hand, furiously scribbling words on the almost torn and abused research paper.

' _There's no way in all of Fiore is he going to be student council President. Because I still exist.'_ The scarlet-haired girl thought, a smile donning on her features.

 _1:18 PM_

 _Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

"Hey Lucy." The happy-go-lucky familiar voice startled Lucy from her thoughts. She turned to look at the pink-haired boy who decided to sit beside her. She inwardly groaned.

"May I help you?" she tiresomely asked, the boy grinning at her in response.

"Loosen up, Luce," she visibly stiffened at the nickname, "I'm your _friend_ ; not some old geezer who's gonna shout at you or something." By now the girl just wanted to be invisible.

"Don't call me 'Luce'." She grimaced at the word, "And may I help you?" she repeated, the fire mage feeling slightly dejected by her reply.

"Well, I was thinking if you wanted to be partne-" before he could even finish, the girl cut him off with a stiff answer.

"I'm done with it." He stared at her.

"What?" he asked, not at all believing the fact that she finished just within ten minutes or so.

"I said I'm done with the research paper." She replied, stubbornly closing the book she was scanning and proceeded to stare at nothing in particular.

Truth to be told; she hasn't even started yet. She was, in fact, having a hard time figuring out what book exactly does these 'Exceeds' belong to. She bit the insides of her cheek and tightened the grip on her ballpoint pen.

"Jeez, you didn't have to lie, y'know." He smiled sadly at her. "You could've just told me to stay away."

Shocked at his reply, she turned to face with, but not saying anything to deny it either.

"See ya later, Lucy." He waved back, walking towards Erza Scarlet and Gray Fullbuster.

Lucy forced herself to look away, guiltily thinking; _'Why do I feel bad?'_

 _1:23 PM_

 _Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

"She wanted _nothing_ to do with me." Natsu said as he plopped on his former chair.

"Did you, by chance, whisper-shouted at her in nervousness?" Erza Scarlet asked with a pitiful expression.

"What? No, I-" the fire mage responded, before getting cut off again.

"Did you talk and talk and talk and not give her a second to respond?" the scarlet-haired asked once more, Natsu turning to the ice mage for help.

"What? Gray, will you-" he was cut off once more,

"Did you accidentally step on her foot or pull her ha – Natsu, where are you going?" Erza asked, watching the fire mage move away and sit at the table of Lisanna and the others.

Erza Scarlet turned to Gray Fullbuster in shock, "What did I do?"

He simply shrugged, caring less than ever, "Beats me."

 _3:43 PM_

 _Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

The blonde-haired girl was back at the library once more; sitting at her former chair and taking out a black notebook.

' _Dear not-a-diary,'_

She started writing, looking around as students began entering and leaving the great library.

' _Labels. Yeah, did I mention labels in highschool? It's all about it, by the way._

 _There are certain cliques in every school and the clique you belong to, or the clique you hang around already describes your personality as a whole; quote by head-cheerleader, Mirajane Strauss._

 _Okay, I may have replaced 'friends' with 'clique' but it's all the same._

 _The thing is, I'm neutral._

 _Seriously, I don't excel at anything I'm aware of; I do have plans of changing that teeny-tiny bit fact, by the way. I'm just an average high school girl barely passing Pyrology, sometimes skipping Enchantments, and loves writing. And magic._

 _So going back to labels; this single label determines the way people are supposed to treat you._

 _I think I don't need to give examples now, do I?_

 _Well my retelling of this morning's events led to people labeling me from 'insignificantly neutral' to 'we-must-hunt-down-and-execute-this-girl-for-being-with-our-beloved-Loke.'_

 _Oh, the things going around the heads of Loke's fan club._

 _Yep, I overheard them talking about how they were going to make a banner concerning that, and yep, he has a fan club._

 _Anyway, just watch and… oh, I forgot, you're a book. Well, read along as I write in you._

 _Flashback_

 _8:31 AM_

 _Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

Blank. Her state of mind went Blank.

That was how the blonde-haired girl's sanity was swept away the second she saw Loke. And a couple of strangers beside him.

He, and the couple of Fairy Tail uniformed girls were casually talking and leaning on her locker. She gulped in uneasiness.

' _This is God's sign that I don't need my books for today.'_ She convinced herself and was about to turn and walk away, until she heard him call her name.

She instantly stopped and bit her lip. And what more, she rigidly turned around and started walking towards the blonde-haired boy.

"Excuse me." she finally said, stopping right in front of him. "I have to get my books." She continued to look at the spot beside his head, trying to ignore the fact that the boy she feared the most to find her was currently looking at her.

"She's Lucy, the girl I was just talking about." Loke said to her fellow unknown schoolmates.

Her mind's wheels were turning; urging her to kick, scream, bite, punch, _anything_ to stop him from talking.

"She's the one who hunted my dreams, alright." He continued, while Lucy's eyes comically widened.

' _What in all of Fiore is he going on about?'_

"And she's mine, by the way." Loke turned to look at Lucy, who in turn, looked like a ghost.

She stared, completely speechless, and not completely processing what he was saying.

"Did you just _claim_ me?" she thoughtlessly said, unaware that she was now voicing her thoughts and of the bunch of onlookers who interestedly listened in.

Next thing she knew, he was already dragging her towards the empty, quiet rooftop.

The bright blue sky, the comforting peace and quiet, the vast, wide space with white tiled floors, the ambiance and scenery; all were ruined by one single look of the sloppy mess of dirty blonde hair in front of her; she thought.

Loke stared at her while she kept her silence. "I still haven't told anyone about who you _really_ are, if that's what you're worried about."

And hearing his voice she was brought back to Earthland.

"What have you done?!" she took off her shoes and proceeded to beat him with them.

"You just started rumors! Which I've tried, by the way, to avoid for three years!"

"Lucy, have you gone mad? Stop it!"

"Oh, I implore you to give me a reason to stop!" she angrily hissed back.

He finally grabbed hold of her shoes, _threw_ them to the far right, and turned her around, tightly grasping her hands while she still tried to unsuccessfully kick him.

"Do you realize what you've done? I _can't_ be noticed!" she momentarily stopped thrashing.

"You've been found out, either way. Sooner or later the Heartfilia Konzern is going to find out where you are." He then now let go of her; Lucy's eyes momentarily flashing before she willed to cover them with mocking ignorance. "Before they take you away, and bring you back to your world. _Our_ world; where you're supposed to be."

"I am a common, perfectly ordinary girl." She said; convincing herself more than anyone.

"As I've said; the Heartfilia blood runs deep within your veins. Stop fooling yourself and come back home."

 _End of Flashback_

 _4:00 PM_

 _The River, Magnolia, Fiore_

"What exactly are you making me do?" the fire mage asked as both the ice and requip mage glared at him to shut up and not ask any more questions.

"I have a feeling Lucy has something to say to you." Erza simply said.

"So don't mess this up. Just lay there. Like a dead ferret or something like that." Gray explained, to which Natsu Dragneel shot him a condescending, hateful look.

Erza scanned the horizon, before seeing the target; about to pass by the riverbed and where they were.

"She's here." She whispered and turned to Natsu one more time. "Do _not_ do anything." She then dragged the ice mage by the collar and hid behind a large, wide tree.

"Natsu?" Lucy called out to the boy who was apparently alone by the river.

She was about to go straight back to her apartment; like another boring and ordinary day. But seeing the pink-haired mage by the riverbank made her momentarily stop and contemplate her actions earlier.

In the end, she chastised herself for sitting beside him. Natsu Dragneel continued to quietly lay on the soft grass, his arm covering his eyes.

Erza and Gray quietly high-fived behind the tree, closely watching and hearing the two.

Lucy on the other hand, assuming that he was asleep, began talking.

"You know I didn't mean it that way earlier, right?" she softly asked, unsure of what exactly she was trying to do.

"I'm not exactly an 'open' person, or… gosh what am I saying." She mumbled the last part and glanced at his sleeping form once more.

She breathed out and closed her eyes for a second, before opening them and continuing, "What I'm trying to say," she took a deep breath once more, "Is that, I'm not good at socializing, or making friends, or even talking in general."

Lucy looked at him for a second or so, "So I'm sorry, I guess." She quickly mumbled, grabbing her bag and dashing out of there as quickly as she could.

Unknown to her, Natsu Dragneel got up and looked towards where she ran off to, a slight smile on his face.

"Told you my idea would work." Gray Fullbuster cast a smug smile towards the scarlet-haired girl, who in turn, lightly punched his shoulder.


	11. Chapter 11: Start

"I've never been in love. But I imagine it's similar to the feeling you get when you see your waiter arriving with your food."

-Zack Galifianakis

 **CHAPTER 11: START**

 _9:27 AM_

 _Class 3-A, Building A, Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

Erza Scarlet was beyond livid.

How could this happen? She thought; how could a mortal who is actually better than her in Strategic Planning, her best subject, exist?

Coming up with strategies were child-play to the scarlet-haired girl. She did, after all, made sure to match every second of requipping to the situation at hand; she did mind-calculations of how long it would take her to requip then to attack, all the while forming a defense technique in seconds.

That was until the professor decided to fry their brains with a problem so difficult, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what, where, or how to attack the opponent's base. The star students then started scurrying away at their own sheets of paper, and Erza, supposed to be the best in Strategic Planning, wasn't even halfway through when someone, a certain someone, volunteered to solve and explain.

"It's quite simple," he said; looking as dull and boring as ever. Erza silently mocked the arrogant class mayor.

Until he started writing legibly on the chalkboard.

' _Curses,'_ she bit her lip, _'No wonder they voted him for class mayor when I wasn't around.'_

And then her sneers and doubts that he was going to make a fool of himself was shot down the drain when in less than five minutes, the solution and clear answer was written neatly on the board.

So she sat there, figuring out why the heavens were punishing her as Gray Fullbuster, the most detested ice mage in her eyes, solved and explained away at the drawn opponent's base on the board.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the period, and the ice mage made his way back to his seat, a sly smile over his prepossessing good looks.

"What are you acting so cheerful for?" she glumly crossed her arms when he was passing through the aisle.

He let out a breathy chuckle, "Such a wonderful ball of joy you are." Gray Fullbuster stopped by her chair and smirked in amusement.

"You sure you're up for this school presidency challenge, Scarlet? I won't say anything if you back out now." He leaned his arm on her armchair, looking down at her in victory.

Erza, feeling dangerously murderous, calmly replied, "I solved the problem before you even raised your hand."

"Yes," he sighed with delight, "And your name isn't Erza Scarlet. You did your best in vying for the position though." He finished and coolly walked away, as though he had already been announced the Supreme Student Government's president, she ghastly thought.

"Erza, will I be in prison if I-" Natsu Dragneel came running to her side, about to ask whether it was illegal to blow up someone else's lunch as a prank when he caught sight of her eyes.

He swore he could see the tiny lit-up flames in them.

"You… doing fine?" he flinchingly asked, eyes drifting to the obviously pleased ice mage beside the window at the back in question. Gray Fullbuster simply shrugged, feigning ignorance.

"Excuse me while I go drown someone in intimidation." She muttered and got up, heading towards the door with a menacing aura around her.

 _12:32 AM_

 _Corridor A, Bulletin Board of the SSG, Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

' _This is it.'_ Erza gulped and read the announcement with fiery eyes.

The Supreme Student Government Elections were finally taking place, and though the positions were, basically, the majority votes type, the presidency spot was determined differently.

Fifty percent comes from the majority votes, and the remaining fifty comes from Master Makarov, who gives them a new quest each year.

"I wonder what Master Makarov would make you guys do this year." Mirajane smiled while looking at the announcement.

"Last year was acquiring a pinch of Vulcan fur." Levy commented, pushing her eyeglass up a bit.

"It took me the whole Saturday to do just that." Erza sighed, recalling the memory.

"Good luck this year, Erza." The rest of Fairy Hills Dorm girls cheered on, Erza smiling confidently in response.

 _3:54 PM_

 _The Cake Shop, Fairy Tail High, Magnolia, Fiore_

Lucy stared in wonder as Erza Scarlet juggled eating strawberry cheesecake, writing an essay for she-doesn't-care-to-find-out, reading and highlighting words on 'Sorcery and Ancient Magic,' drawing a sketch of her new dream armor to be added to her collection, and talking to her.

"So as I was saying," Erza swallowed a spoonful of cake, "This cake needs some Fairy Glitter for it to be the Heaven's Wheel Armor."

Lucy blinked. That was what she heard, alright.

Erza wrinkled her nose, "Wait, what did I just say?" then she mumbled a few more incomprehensible things that sounded like some dead language and highlighted an entire paragraph from the book.

"Erza?" Lucy asked, trying to get her attention. 'Trying' being the keyword.

"And the elections; have I threatened-I mean, _convinced_ you to vote for me yet?" Erza asked, flitting her eyes to and fro.

"Erza, I don't really see why-" Lucy was cut off by the frantic speech of the requip mage.

"And the newest edition of Sorcerer Weekly. Did you know that Fairy Tail High was quoted as 'one of the most violent-"

"Erza!" Lucy closed the book, grabbed her spoon, and put a hand over her essay. The scarlet-haired then finally quieted down; Lucy realized as she sighed in relief.

"Okay, so what did you want to talk to me about again?" the blonde-haired girl asked, momentarily staring at the clock right above the requip mage's head.

"Oh, yes, that's right; they should be here any minute now." Erza skittishly replied.

She had been juggling things alright; but there was one more thing she was trying to do that Lucy wasn't aware of.

They sat in awkward silence as the clock ticked on.

"Yep, that's what he said," Erza glared at the door in scorn, as if it would finally produce the people she wanted to see, "Any minute now."

Lucy was too confused and tired to ask any more questions. And just as she was about to stand up, apologize, and walk out of the cake shop, the tinkling bell of the door opening sounded.

' _Finally,'_ Erza thought,

"Over here, you precious, timely, early, classmates of mine." Erza Scarlet called out and tried to smile, only it resulting in a gruesome upward twitch of the lips.

Natsu looked frightened at the sight of a trying-to-smile Erza and turned to Gray, "I don't think breathing the same air as Erza is safe right now."

The ice mage, however, continued to push Natsu Dragneel towards the two girls.

"Sorry we're late." Gray flatly said with a sigh as they both sat down.

"Yes, I forgive you." Erza coldly replied before turning to Lucy.

"So I heard from Juvia that your necklace was still missing, right?" the requip mage asked, Lucy silently nodding and dreading at where this conversation was going.

"Natsu here wanted to be a good Samaritan and help you find it. So seeya." Gray was about to stand up until the scarlet-haired girl forcefully tugged his arm back. He could have sworn he heard his bones crack.

"What?" both Natsu and Lucy said in unison.

Erza glared at Gray with every ounce of hatred she could muster, as if telling him telepathically, _'Haven't you explained the plan to Natsu yet?'_

"Fullbuster here was actually trying to say that if you wanted, the three of us could help you look for it." Erza explained.

"Yeah, _the two of them_ could help you look for it. Bye." He stood up once more but Erza, unrelenting to let him get away, dragged him back once more; this time keeping a firm grasp on his wrist.

"So what do you say?" she pleasantly asked, as if she wasn't threatening a certain ice mage with her death grip at all.

Lucy looked uncertain at the trio.

"Natsu, say something useful." Erza whisper-shouted at the fire mage.

"So, uh, yeah." Natsu tittered and felt jittery for the first time.

' _What the heck am I supposed to say?'_ he inwardly panicked as Lucy stared at him.

So he settled for the most common thing to say to normal people.

"How's it going, Lucy?"

Erza Scarlet groaned and felt like grabbing a piece of wood to whack both Natsu's and Gray's heads.

 _9:13 PM_

 _Fairy Hills, Magnolia, Fiore_

"I'm fine, Jellal." Erza hurriedly replied through the phone and wrote down another line of facts on her Enchantments notebook.

" _You sure don't sound fine, you know."_ He replied with a worried voice, and the scarlet-haired girl sighed; it was the first time in a few months since her childhood friend called. And here she was, being such a good friend to not even spare a second to talk to him.

' _I'm a horrible person.'_ She thought.

" _And I can hear the page of your notebook tearing."_ He commented, as Erza tore off another page from her notes.

"I got confused earlier and wrote down things from Natural Magic in my Enchantments notebook." She reasoned, now flitting through the dictionary to find a certain word.

" _Relax, Erza; it's our last year in high school. No need to get so uptight now."_ Jellal further comforted, as she simply tugged her hair in frustration, asking herself where in Earthland did she put her Strategic Planning notebook.

Erza sighed, "Jellal, I'll talk to you some other time. When I'm less… busy." Her eyebrows scrunched as she read her essay for the nth time.

" _Alright then. Just calm down and try to get some sleep. I'm sorry for calling at such a bad time. Good night."_ He said.

And she just spaced out for a second or so.

He cleared his throat, _"Goodnight, Erza."_ He said one more time, her replying with an unusually high 'Goodnight.'

The call ended and she leaned against her chair, head facing the ceiling and eyes closed. Her hand weakly gripped her phone as she felt the fatigue finally taking over.

And then she felt a faint vibration from her phone.

' _ **You're aging.'**_

Gray Fullbuster had sent and she deliberately ignored it. A few minutes later though, she received another text.

' _ **Seriously. You're acquiring memory loss from aging.'**_

She furiously typed back, annoyed ten times more than usual.

' _ **GO AWAY.'**_

Yes, it was on caps lock. And she considered just turning off her phone until his next message hit her on the head.

Erza Scarlet silently read the message and loudly groaned, getting up and burrowing her head in the mish-mash of pillows on her bed.

' _ **You accidentally put your notebook in my bag, Scarlet. Come get it.'**_

Erza typed back to the ice mage.

' _ **Bring it over.'**_ She pressed the send button.

A few seconds later, _'_ _ **My favorite TV commercial is on. Can't get up.'**_

Erza rolled her eyes heavenwards and she thought she heard a faint knock on her balcony door. She shrugged it off and was about to type back until the knocks became apparent.

She narrowed her eyes and requipped her twin katanas.

But just as she opened the curtains, a half-naked, dull-looking Gray Fullbuster met her view; casually leaning over the rails with a hand in his pocket, the other waving her notebook in the air.


End file.
